The game contains 30 playable characters (counting all modes in the game altogether), which is unusually large for a game of this caliber. It contains five modes of play, and follows the story of Goku's first meeting with Bulma, to the grand finale against King Piccolo.

Various Modes:

• Story Mode
• One-On-One Mode
• Versus Mode
• Extra Mode
• Mini Games

The Story Mode follows Goku as he goes on the adventure of his lifetime. Most of the Dragon Ball story arcs are here; the only one noticeably missing is the Piccolo Junior storyline from the end of the series. There are many items to collect in the game, most of which are hidden. Items can include those that increase the player's health and/or ki, the Dragon Balls, or objects such as Master Roshi's sunglasses and Mercenary Tao's cyborg headgear. The player is only able to play as Goku at first. By clearing Goku's Story Mode once, the player is also able to play Story Mode with Krillin. However, with Krillin, you will not get any cutscenes and story, just the levels. The Story Mode cannot be played with any other character.

There are 3 main different levels:

Platform – Goku/Krillin goes around an area and beats the usual enemies.
Nimbus – Goku/Krillin fights the enemy in the air on the Flying Nimbus.
One-On-One – Where one character fights another character individually, like in the World Martial Arts Tournaments. Goku does not use his Power Pole in this mode, and thus his moves are different.